Portugal wants EU Recovery Fund to become permanent investment tool

The European Union must transform its pandemic recovery fund into a permanent instrument for structural investments to face competitiveness challenges that can only be overcome on an EU scale, Portugal's finance minister said on Monday. However, Fernando Medina said that starting a debate now on extending the 800 billion euro ($860 billion) temporary support programme beyond 2026 could give countries a wrong idea that making use of the investments by that deadline is no longer a priority.